~Brendon's POV~

It was dark when we heard Gerard scream. I shot up from where I was laying next to Ryan when I heard it echo.

"Gerard?" I scrambled to my feet and hurried around a corner to where Gerard had chosen to rest. Gerard was holding his side, eyes snapped shut as he cried out in pain.

"Gerard!?" I kneeled next to him, trying to move his hand away from his side.

"IT HURTS!" Gerard cried out, his hands pressing harder against his side, "FRANKIE!"

"Gerard, you've gotta calm down." I felt panic as I tried to calm him. What if someone heard him? We didn't have a good escape route from this place...

"What's wrong?" I turned and saw Ryan in the doorway.

"Ry, I don't know! You gotta help..." I trailed off, turning back to Gerard as he cried out yet again.

Ryan hurried over. He was silent, just looking at Gerard as he kneeled next to him. Gerard's eyes slowly began to relax. His hand slipped slightly from his side, revealing nothing visible to cause him pain.

"What's wrong?" I asked silently.

Ryan was silent for a moment before standing. "Frank's hurt." He said simply, turning and leaving the room.

I shot up and hurried after him, nearly bumping into Spencer. "What do you mean!? Hurt how!?"

"I don't know!" Ryan shot back at me, spinning on his heel. "But that's why Gerard was screaming. He could feel Frank's pain."

"Frank's hurt?.." Spencer asked, rubbing his eye.

"Yea...but the others are taking care of it..." Ryan trailed off, turning away from me again.

"How do you know?" I questioned. I ran over to him and grabbed his shoulder, "Your abilities don't reach out that far anymore, and I know it." I said lowly.

Ryan turned his head in my direction and locked eyes with me.

"Doubt they'd leave him to die." He said in a hushed, harsh tone.

I was going to shoot something back at him when I began to feel dizzy again. My legs shook underneath me.

"Ry..." I gasped, spots appearing in my vision.

"What's wrong, baby?" He asked innocently as I felt myself fall back into someone's waiting arms, "You don't look too good."

"Fuck off..." I mumbled, feeling my head drop.

I heart a slight laugh as a hand gripped my chin lightly and pulled it up.

"Oh, baby, how rude... Not that you'll remember..."

And everything went black.

---

"Baby! Wake up!" There was the feeling of lips pressed against my forehead. I scrunched my eyes shut tighter, feeling a throbbing in my head.

"What?.." I groaned softly.

"I found someone while I was out scouting." My mind registered the voice as being Ryan's now.

"When did you go scouting?.." I opened my eyes and saw him smiling down at me.

"Earlier, silly, now c'mon!" He grabbed my hand and tugged me up to my feet. I rubbed my eyes as he tugged me out of the room.

Spencer and Gerard were standing next to someone I had never seen before. He was tall, with dark brown hair, and he was wearing all black.

"Who is he?" I asked, planting my foot so Ryan couldn't pull me any closer. "And what can he do?"

"I'm Dan." The newcomer shrugged in a British accent, "I can make copies? If that makes sense... Copies of people, down to a T pretty much."

"Cooooool." Spencer nodded.

"Can you really do anyone?" Gerard asked, still looking Dan over.

Dan nodded. "Yea. Well... They still have to be alive. I sadly cannot duplicate someone who is dead otherwise I would be having a cup of tea with Edgar Allen Poe, buT ANYWAY!" Dan's tone went from normal, to muttering, to loud again in just one sentence. If I wasn't so iffy about him, I'd laugh.

"Care to demonstrate?" Gerard asked, crossing his arms.

"I'm a bit stretched thin at the moment..." Dan laughed nervously, "Almost getting caught and all..."

"Sure." I nodded. Dan's face quickly broke into relief. "Tomorrow then." The relief faded quickly.

Ryan nudged Dan's arm, "C'mon. There's a space this way." Once Dan followed Ryan a distance away, I turned back to the others.

"What do you guys think?" I asked lowly.

"Like, should we trust him?" Spencer asked.

"Yea... Gerard, any ideas?" I looked at Gerard to see him with that far away look in his eye. He wouldn't be much help right now.

"What, you afraid he's gonna clone us or something?" Spencer laughed,shoving his hands in his pant's pockets.

"It's not ruled out..." I muttered under my breath, turning away from Spencer.

Something felt off...about everything... It was as if leaving that place had changed absolutely nothing... I felt powerless to help anyone in any way... I felt the same way I did before...

"Oh, Frankie..." I turned back around as I heard Gerard mumble. I felt something tug in the back of my mind. Something had happened to Frank last night...

"What is it?" I walked over to Gerard, hoping he would answer even though he was in his link with Frank. "Gerard, what happened?"

"Metal... In his side..." Gerard's eyed squinted slightly, "His mind is going in and out... He's not doing well. My Frank..." Gerard covered his mouth as his gaze shifted back to where we were. He looked at me with eyes full of mixed emotions. "Brendon, what did we do by splitting up?" He asked silently.

I looked down at the ground. What had we done?.. Things weren't better, they were worse...

"I don't know..." I finally said silently, "But I do know that it was a mistake..."